Ella celebrated her third birthday this week. To her relief, she woke up and found that she had not, after all, turned into an adult. "I'm still the same!" she declared, after examining her legs and feet closely. Just to ensure that she would not suddenly grow up, however, Ella insisted that her cake should have no cangles (candles) on it. After opening her presents, which had arrived from around the world, Ella went for brunch at her favourite restaurant, and then went biking and boating in Golden Gate Park. Then she had cake, adorned with pixie dust (gold leaf), which she carefully picked off and ate, presumably for its anti-ageing properties. At bedtime she happily observed that she still fitted in her bed, so her plan to avoid growing up seems to have worked. Also this week Ella went to the Asian Art Museum to look for dragons, and held Mummy's hand in case Mummy got scared; went up Coit Tower and rode on a cable car with Annika; and went to Yosemite, where she went biking with Daddy and saw an American Indian village, while Mummy and Annika went for a hike.

Now over to Ella...

"A birthday is when you try to blow out cangles. There were no cangles on my cake because I didn't want to grow up. I'm three but still the same. I didn't grow up -- I forgot to grow up because I live in Neverland. People gave presents to me. I went biking on a bicycle that had a roof, and a boat that went on water that you could pegal."